Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-07
THE OLD MAID OF TODAY.
Compared with the Venerable Sister Of
Former Times.
milwaukee Sunday Telegraph

VAD lnaA Va AO|D<A
Compared with the Venerable Sister OF
Former Times.
milwaukee Sunday Telegraph
According to the ideas of things
which prevailed not so very long ago,
the woman who did not marry was a
blighted being. 1t did not matter
whether she remained single from
choice or necessity: for since it was
considered woman's only, manifest,
and unalterable destiny to marry, she
must. of course, be regarded as failure
in life if she did not do this. And
though she may have refused forty
offers of marriage, or have had the
most imperative duties of any sort, or
developed the most decided talent for
some vocation in life other than mar
riage, yet neither one nor all of these
would have been accepted as valid
reason why she should not follow what
society had decided was the only proper
course in life for her. Failure to be-
come the mistress of her own home she
was doomed to life of dependence in
that of some friend or relative, useful
creature who took care of the children
and did the family mending, but was
regarded with either pity or contempt
even by those who profited most di-
rectly from her labor.
From this condition of things there
arose in literature and the minds of
people in general the typical "old maid. I"
She was always pictured as gaunt,
angular, and forbidding in appearance;
morose and ill-tempered in disposition,
as became blighted and disappointed
being; hating youth and pleasure of all
sort, with special grudge against
love-making and lovers, since they re-
minded her Of her own vanished youth
and the opportunities which she had
never had, or, having, had neglected.
The part which she had played in the
story was usually that of butt for the
others to scratch jokes upon; or of o
marplot and feminine villain whom all
were glad to see discounted in the end.
But we have changed all that in
these latter days. With the education
of women and the broadening of their
opportunities in every way, their
destinies have broadened also. A wo-
man is still, perhaps, expected first to
marry, and it is best for her that she
should, provided her marriage can be q
happy and suitable one. But if from
her own choice, or q necessity arising
from lack of appreciation on the part
of the other and more stupid sex, she
remains at the end Of her days what
some one calls an unclaimed blessing,
she is no longer considered, from this
circumstance alone, q failure and an
unhappy creature. She is no longer
doomed to life Of dependence in the
house of another, for score of 'voca-
tions are open to her, in any one of
which she may win livelihood OF even
q competence. Consequently she COM
mands respect, and, far from being a
subject for contempt or pity, she is
more likely the object of open or secret
envy on the part of most of her married
acquaintance.
And SO it has come about that the
typical old maid Of former times has
passed away, and in the literature of to-
day we find new type conforming to
different from the old. The modern
old maid is not angular and forbidding
in appearance, butplump and pleasing.
She is not morose and ill-tempered, but
jolly and good-natured to an extent that
makes her the best of company. As
she has never had the all-absorbing
cares which comes with marriage, and
has no family of sons and daughters
growing up about her to remind her of
the flight of years, she has naturally
forgotten to grow old, and young peo-
pie regard her as one of themselves
when good times are being planned
while in the matter of lovers and love-
making she has had that experience
which makes her simply invaluable as
contidante and adviser, and she is the
repository of all the secrets OF this sort
which exist within the range Of her &C.
quaintance. She dresses in exquisite
taste, she pets pug dog or white rat,
q golden beetle, or whatever animal
fashion may dictate; she entertains
beautifully; is idolized by her family,
especially her young nephews; has
hosts of admirers, but is discretion and
propriety personified; is the guiding
spirit in orphan asylums, hospital fairs,
associated charity matters, and other
good works, and, in short, lives out to
the end of her days happy, useful,
well-rounded existence.
Enod Trade fnr. Woman